As I Slowly Fall into You
by Anna M. Phoenix
Summary: Time changes the physics of things and the bonds that shape relationships. Here is an account of how the relationship between Bane and Talia changed and blossomed into something more than platonic. Contains mature themes.
1. Bond

**Disclaimer : I do not own any of these characters, which are based on Christopher Nolan's TDKR.**

**Author's note : I am still working on Gotham is Yours but a lovely reviewer called MonDieu666 asked if I could write a section on when the relationship between Talia and Bane shifted to something less platonic. I had aimed to write a one-off and ended up writing 5 chapters. Hopefully they don't disappoint.**

* * *

**I. Bond**

Bane stood firm atop two of the dozen wood pillars planted in one of the training rooms of League's temple. Six men were trying to pry him from his perch, hitting him with hard, thick rods. The big man weathered the blows, broke two rods, almost impaled a man, grabbed another one and threw him across the room, swiftly shifted to avoid a hit in the eye, grabbed the pole and rammed it in the assailant's clavicle. His movements were swift and assured.

Once he had defeated all six, he kept his stance, knees bent, arms open, a wheezing sound coming from his mask, his body dripping in sweat. He looked up at Talia, no longer the small child he rescued and protected, nor the young girl who had escaped the pit she was born in. She was a young woman now, already a fearsome student of her father's teachings, but a young woman nonetheless. Her hair was down to the middle of her back in a braid, she wore a crimson brocaded robe that accentuated the soft pink of her lips. She watched him with pride.

He almost lost his footing when six more ninjas came to replace the fallen ones, but he held himself up another pillar and put himself back up, yanking a rod that was aiming to topple him.

He had grown so much in the two-plus years since they had affixed the mask to face – eight months after they had brought him back from the pit, and brought him back from the dead.

* * *

It had taken Talia more than three long years to go back for her protector. After her escape, she had looked for her father for ages, it seemed, but she was fortunate that a man like Ra's Al Ghul easily heard of a girl searching for him, and let himself be found. She had inherited the dark beauty of her mother; it had not taken much for him to believe her tale. She had hoped he would go back to the pit with her at once, but upon hearing of his wife's death he put up a wall of silence between them and would not talk of it, though he took her in his organization – the League of Shadows – and showed her ways of being one with the world and of fighting its corruption. Her friend was always in her thoughts, their bond would not be broken, and she cursed herself for ever telling her father her mother had been killed.

Impressed by her progress and her stealth, Ra's started training with his daughter and that is when she started talking of her protector. She finally wore her father down when she said she would fight him to the death for the right to go back for her friend. Ra's had laughed, saying he would kill her and she said he'd have to before she stopped. He relented, as her devotion reminded him so much of his wife.

They found her friend in pieces, his face mangled and his strength gone, lying on the ground, waiting for death to claim him and stop his suffering. A spine injury and a botched operation had left him in perpetually agony. At Talia's pleading, Ra's brought him back with them and the League doctors proposed a novel idea: a mask giving him a continuous intake of analgesic, keeping the pain at bay and strengthening him. Ra's had been impressed that Bane had survived so much and in half an effort to please a daughter he did not know how to love and half out of curiosity, he had the doctors fashion the mask. It was a metallic contraption that hid half her protector's face, affixed over his head, covering his nose and ears, only his eyes now visible. Tubing, to deliver the drugs, almost formed a spider on the front, around a mesh that filtered his breath and his voice. She had spent every night with him as he recovered and adjusted to the mask, promising him she would never leave him again.

Once the mask was on, he had progressed in leaps and bounds; the muscles of his body reformed and his mass expanded, though it never impeded his movements. Talia had found sleep again, for once Bane had recuperated, she often snuck in his room to sleep in his arms. Her father had disapproved so she had to be careful, but she could not stay away.

* * *

Bane defeated yet this other assault sent by her father. Her heart started pounding and she could not control her smile. She saw Bane smile back at her from the crinkles around his eyes. She turned to her father overjoyed, but quickly lost her grin when she saw the look of revulsion he gave her. Ra's left without even looking at Bane and his broken opponents at the foot of the pillars. Talia never smiled except around Bane, and it troubled her father. He didn't like that his daughter looked for the approval of this man, who was no longer truly a man.

Her brow furrowed as anger started to fill her heart - how dare he dismiss her friend that way. Her father treated the man who had saved her as if he were a monster. She controlled the rage, tried to find balance again; she reminded herself that her father had also saved her in another way, had given her chances and means beyond imagining and had given her friend, now her brother in the league, another lease on life.

She turned back to Bane, trying to smile again and noticed he was looking at her intently. He was grateful to Ra's al Ghul, he shared some of his notions of the world, but there was only one opinion that mattered to him... his little Talia's.

* * *

That night, she had to wait particularly late to go to Bane's room to avoid being caught. When she crawled beside him and he took her in his arms, she knew he wasn't sleeping. She nuzzled on his neck and squeezed her arms around him as tight as she could. "I'm not hurting you am I?" she asked, her mouth on his skin, muffling her words. He laughed quietly and she giggled. She could not stop smelling him that night, wanting to get closer to his heat.

She moved to sit in the bed. Though it was dark, the moonlight from the small window allowed her to see his body and she knew he was looking at her. He would never be a monster to her, she thought as she put her hand on him.

"You've been bruised," she said, starting to glide her hands on his chest. It was a poor excuse, but she trusted he wanted to believe in the innocence of her explorations. The truth was, as young as she was still, she had been a woman for years now (proof of it came monthly), knew of men's looks on her and of the fascination their body held for her. She knew no one else fascinated her as much as he did.

She felt him tense up and he whispered: "It's nothing, come and sleep little one." It frustrated her to no end that he would call her "little one", but she decided to play with that. She pulled up her tank top revealing her right breast and rub under it. "I was bruised there too," she said in as innocent a voice as she could conjure. He looked away almost immediately and rolled on his back looking at the ceiling "come and sleep" he repeated, his voice strained somehow. A broad smile drew across her face.

She didn't pull down her tank top and laid her chest right on top of his, so he could feel her hard nipple on his skin, and she exhaled slowly on his neck. He shifted his hips away from her, bending his knee. She knew what he was trying to hide, had felt it on her leg. She was so curious, but she didn't want him to push her away so she pretended like she was falling asleep and didn't move any more. She felt him pull down her tank top until she was covered again, and she pretended to sleep through it. He knew she was faking, but he was grateful she let him dress her up again. They would have to stop sleeping in each other's arms, he thought, she was changing too much. Though her presence soothed him, and he couldn't really sleep well without her, the presence of her body troubled him more and more. Sleep seemed to want to visit him less and less, whether she was there or not.


	2. Lust

**II. Lust**

The next few days, Bane tried not to look at Talia, and tried to figure out how he was going to tell her not to come sleep with him anymore. Yet, he wasn't ready to do it. It pained him that Ra's disapproving gazes and reproached might be justified. He had never had any impure thoughts for her before, but her blossoming body was eating away had the barriers he had built inside his mind.

She noticed he had withdrawn from her and she didn't try to push it, for fear it would drive him further away from her. Her father had talked to her about the power of her femininity, about the weapon her body was and of how she was in a singular position to wield it for the League. She had read books and she had tried postures around men, examined their reactions, let them approach her only to rebuff them and saw it only heightened their desire. She had been told of the yearning of men, but her father never told her of her own yearning. It wasn't mere physical curiosity for her, but a craving for someone, someone in particular… someone who, until recently, she thought only saw her as a child.

After a week, she had gone back to Bane's room but had been as chaste as she ever was and she felt him relax and laugh when she moved around to make herself comfortable. They both slept well. She had wanted him to fall asleep before her but he never did, so she finally gave in.

She knew instinctively that her friend would never try to force anything on her and would push her away. She had to lure him – just like a Venus Flytrap – she had to entice him to come to her and to want what he considered poisonous. So taken was she by this mission she had given herself, that she hadn't really thought what it would mean for their relationship. She simply assumed they would go on being friends and spiritual siblings.

Bane was relieved they hadn't had another compromising night and that he could still snuggle his Talia for a while longer.

* * *

She was patient. She spent the better part of the following year plotting, trying to find a way to expose herself to him more, but never acting on it. She was having trouble concentrating on her studies, had trouble being interested in anything but sexuality. It didn't seem to bother her father that she read those books, since he thought she was getting acquainted with the art of seduction and he'd rather she ease into it. Ra's kept an eye on her as well, noticed the small gestures she made in front of the men, the way she arched her back. He was happy to see the monster didn't look, though he seemed to be staining, but he took note of his trainees who did.

One day, during an exhibition exercise between Talia and one his better fighters, her keikogi became undone, and she hadn't taped down her breast, so she was left bare-chested under him for all to see. Bane immediately stood up, but Ra's signaled him to stand down. Bane didn't sit back but stop advancing. Talia had noticed, and she had also noticed her opponent looking down. She took advantage of his loss of concentration and put him down, stopping short of breaking his arm, her perked up breasts heaving as she stood up.

"Very good Talia" Ra's said with evident pride. She started to tighten her sash and cover herself, but her father said "no". Bane glared at him and walked towards her to see if she was distressed, but Ra's signaled him to stop again. She didn't turn to her protector, feeling victorious, not only for this fight but because she stirred her friend again.

Her father didn't look at her; he looked down at her defeated opponent. "You were undone by one of the oldest weapon known to man," he told him with disdain in his voice. "We all know of the corruption of the flesh, the weakness of lust… we strive to rise above it," he said in rousing voice as he walked around the room looking at his men.

"Well, look at this," he ordered as he walked towards Talia without looking at her. He took off her top and dropped her pants so she was completely exposed. All she could think of was that she was finally revealed to Bane, which superseded any shame. Ra's went to Bane, who had turned his gaze away. When she realized he was the only man in the room, aside from her father, who wasn't looking at her, her lip started to tremble. Ra's came to masked man's side and pointed to his daughter. She could see her friend holding his fists so tight that his knuckles were white. "Look at this… this is a trap. Her body is a dangerous trap, in which the weak will fall, a bait for our enemies…"

Bane didn't need to be told the dangers Talia would represent, she would be a master, and he hated it.

"But no one here, should fall for this snare. All of you should look at her and recognize her lures for what they are… an invitation to doom. Look at her!" He said forcefully, looking at Bane again.

The big man inhaled deeply and finally turned his gaze towards her, his eyes enraged. She had kept her stance, her arms along her body, not showing any nervousness, but her lips parted when he looked at her.

He slowly advanced towards her, and she started drumming her fingers on her thumbs to stop from shaking. He gave her a sad look and he quickly dressed her again, and then walked away. Ra's looked at him leave and Talia turned around, clutching her keikogi.

She followed her father to his chambers and he berated her briefly for making a spectacle of herself (not acknowledging he had contributed to it). He then congratulated her on owning her endowments well and announced that she was ready for another part of her training and would be heading to Switzerland in a week's time. Talia barely listened to any of his words, but she heard those.


	3. Attachment

**III. Attachment**

When she left her father's chambers, she went to look for Bane and found him outside, sitting on a rock at the edge of a deep gorge. She had put on gloves and an extra layer of clothing for, though it was fall, the cold was still biting so high up in the mountains, where her father had nestled the headquarters of the League of Shadows.

She approached and stood by quietly until he acknowledged her presence. He gave her a quick look and turned his head back to the vast panorama of the mountains.

"Your father means to whore you out to the filth of the world," he stated, his mask distorting his voice to give it a strangely joyous tone, that she couldn't gauge sincere or not. He wasn't looking at her so she couldn't infer which emotions he was really feeling.

"You have your strength, I have my charms," she responded, gulping down saliva as she said it, trying to quell the nervousness.

"You have much more than that Talia," he said looking at her, his stare obviously angry, despite the gaiety in his voice. For some reason, that warmed her heart and calmed her.

"I can help the cause this way," she pursued. She wasn't sure what she was saying, just that she wanted to continue a conversation that would fuel a fire in him. He stood up and towered over her.

"Whoever touches me would mean no more to me than the men you kill. I have not need for lust," she affirmed.

"Whoever touches you," he repeated, his voice breaking slightly and his hands still in tight fists beside his body.

"Unless it's you, brother," she blurted out in one breath. His eyes widened. "I will have to give myself for the first time... soon perhaps…" her voice trailed off. When she saw his quizzical look, she added: "my father is sending me to Switzerland in a few days."

His eyes looked completely defeated, his pupils started darting from left to right rapidly, following the speed of his thoughts and his breathing accelerated likewise.

She stepped towards him and put her hands on his chest until his gaze fixated on her. It made her shiver. His breathing decelerated while hers accelerated. "That's something I can only give once, my friend. You've given so much to me… for me," she stated, looking at him with tenderness, "let me give this to you."

He shook his head and closed his eyes while his hands grabbed hers. She couldn't believe he might be refusing her… "Or would you rather imagine some other man panting over me," she screeched. She felt his hands squeeze hers and his stare darken.

"You think, if I took you, that I would let anyone else have you… you don't know what you are offering child," he spat out, then let go of her hands.

Her heart was in her throat. She was trying to find anything to say to stop him from leaving. "There will only be just you," she pleaded.

"You don't know what you are saying," he replied in an exhausted tone. Both of them knew what her father's plan was, there was never to be just one man for her – duty demanded it.

"My father aims to use me as a weapon, and that is what I shall be." She ran up to him and tugged his shirt. "Brother, any man who touches me will die by my hand soon after. You are the only one who will truly know me… that is what I want and what I am offering."

Though she was fascinated by sexuality, she had no real interest in it, nor in men; she considered it below her and a means to an end. Yet, she was anxious about it and only trusted Bane to help her tame it. She only felt she would ever want her friend to explore this part of her skills with.

"You're young…"he started saying.

"I was never young," she affirmed. She didn't know what to say more. She was making a million promises with her eyes, some she had not even realized she wanted to make. She hoped he could understand.

His eyes finally softened and he embraced her and let his fingers get tangled in her hair. He should deny her, but he found himself too selfish to refuse what she was offering. He should not tie her to him forever (for he knew he would never let her go if she became entirely his); he should let her be free of him, but he couldn't.

"Take me before I leave," she whispered in his neck, hoping he would accept her verbal plea.

"Meet me in the bathhouse two hours before dawn tomorrow," he whispered in their shared dialect after a long pause.

She nodded and walked back to the temple. Her father stood in her way when she entered the compound and looked at her in depth, trying to figure out the subject of her previous conversation. "You intend to whore me out," she told him defiantly, repeating Bane's words.

"I would have you do what is necessary," he countered. His fingertips touched her cheek, ever so slightly. She felt nothing at her father's touch and, try as he might, Ra's didn't feel much either.


	4. Communion

**IV. Communion**

She could barely stand still as she waited till the meeting hour, but she knew she had to be careful. The bathhouse was in the lower western part of the compound and she'd have to take her time. She snuck out by her room window and went from the outside. She gave herself almost half an hour before the meeting time in order to move slowly into the shadows, her ears and eyes attuned to any change and any movement.

There was a small flicker of light coming under the door from the bathhouse. She was nervous that others would be there but when she opened the door, but she only found him, resting in the deep roman bath. The room was subtly lit by half a dozen candles.

Bane had sparred all night, beating everything and everyone, letting Ra's think he was venting away his frustrations. He saw he had fooled his mentor when Ra's exited the upper balcony with a satisfied smile. Bane had exhausted all those who decided to challenge him and the ones who stayed to spy on him. He then had come to the bathhouse once he knew he would be completely alone. Even if he wasn't, the bathhouse was a completely closed-off room, except for the door, so there was only one possible risk of discovery.

He didn't turn and look when the door slowly slid open and closed with only a weak, muted thud, but he watched her approach from the side. There was still time to back away, but he knew he wouldn't.

She stood before him, in front of the steps to the bath and he stood up, the water coming up to his waistline. He waited, adoringly exploring her with his eyes, his fingers fidgeting in under the water. Talia undressed quickly but silently, until she was in her underwear. She slowly pulled away her tank top and let her underpants slip down her legs to reveal the dark forest of her nether region.

She stretched to put her feet in the water but he shook his head (the water would make too much noise). He walked towards her and slowly stepped out of the bath. He was already erect, and he stopped close enough to her so that she would feel him hard on her stomach. He caressed her lips with his thumb then put his index finger on her mouth and looked at her so she would understand they would have to be completely silent. She nodded and her mouth stretched into an inviting smile.

His large hands followed her shoulders down to her arms and took her hands, squeezing them a little. She was in a daze for a moment but the pressure of his hands woke her up and she pressed her mouth to his throat and started kissing him. She then made her way down to her knees, still holding his hands, and took the sight of him in, breathless.

She shyly kissed him and saw his eyes brightened. She explored more daringly by opening her mouth, he stopped and knelt down himself so as not to explode. He touch was bringing in a euphoria he was struggling to contain. One of his hands slowly found its way between her tighs and cupped her, letting her absorb the mass and heat of his palm. He started to rub her gently. She moved her hips to synchronize with him, then his finger dug in her and she had to grab his neck and press her lips together not to let any sound come out. His stroke became more insistent and then he added another finger to his movement. She clenched her teeth; her fingers were tiny in comparison to his and she had never stretched herself so wide. He started rubbing at the juncture of her slit and her knees weakened. He grabbed her by the buttocks to sustain her.

She covered his chest with kisses. He took back one of her hands and brought it down so she could start touching him as well. She didn't know what to do at first but improvised rather quickly. He slowly entered a third finger and then started rolling them inside her. She understood what he was doing for she would never have imagine being able to accommodate him. She was in awe at the expanding sensation. He eventually was able to insert a fourth just as she started shaking and her feet started cramping up. She arched her back uncontrollably and he brought her close to him and put his hand over her mouth while he looked at her.

Still kneeling, he started rubbing the head of his erection on her and then found her entrance. She was willing and wet but didn't realize how painful it would be when he grabbed her hips and sheathed himself inside her. As he did, he put the webbing between his thumb and index in her mouth so she would bite, and she did – drawing blood. Her jaw relaxed and she wrapped her arms around his neck, her forehead meeting his. One of his palms cupped her face while the other caressed her to ease the burn between her legs.

He started to dance inside her and eventually she was able to open her eyes and enjoy their communion. He continued his gentle thrusts until she became rigid once more and his own body tensed up soon after, his pleasure warmly flowing to fill her. Throughout, he kept bringing her face back to him, so their gazes could lock.

She bled only slightly and she went back to her bed just before dawn and squeezed her thighs, rollicking in the memory of such exquisite pain. She woke up a couple of hours later and she went about her day in a daze, trying not to look at Bane, just as he was avoiding looking at her. He kept a hand on the webbing she had bitten, so that no one would see, but mostly to rub at the small injury he hoped wouldn't heal too quickly, since it triggered such delicious memories.

They met up in secret two more times before she left for Switzerland, and her body started getting accustomed to his girth and his to her snug embrace. They twisted and bended like they never thought possible. He was a terrific teacher and she felt safe, but she couldn't deny the emotional implications. They felt like one when they danced like that, and she understood it wasn't just her body she had given him, but her soul. She knew she would keep her promise because she had no other choice; they would never be another who would know her.


	5. Commitment

**V. Commitment**

They were separated for months; her father made sure Bane was on missions whenever she came back to the League. Ra's worried her newfound knowledge in seduction would be a danger if the monster was around. His daughter and her protector already share spiritual intimacy, he couldn't allow it to be physical and he wanted Talia to get used to living without Bane, since her absence made him dislike the monster even more.

Under the tutelage of a Madam Ling, Talia learned all about being a woman in society, how to entertain with conversation, how to play with one's word and body, how to detect and know desires, and how to use those desires to her own end. At night, she would fulfill parts of her own desires by thinking of friend as she squeezed her thighs.

Eventually, theory had to become practice and they had some man chosen for the task to initiate her in the arts of love and lust. Madam Ling wasn't too please when Talia bit off the tip of the manhood she had just pleasured orally, letting the man bleed out before she called anyone in for help.

* * *

Bane trained harder and more viciously whenever he got back in the League's temple and still Talia wasn't there. He knew what her father had her learn far away from him and it burned him to the core; it burned him that he couldn't stop it. He got more ruthless every time he thought about it and, on more than one occasion, he was not able to tamper his strength, which fueled the growing animosity between him and the head of the League. Ra's continuously sent him to more and more dangerous missions and he knew his mentor was trying to get rid of him. Bane wasn't afraid for his life, but he couldn't leave Talia, so he had to endure; he had to get back into Ra's good graces, he reasoned. After all, he owed the man his life and the League had made him into a warrior, capable of saving the world.

* * *

When Bane entered his room one night after coming back from a mission a few days early and found Talia on his bed, he thought it was a dream, but she smiled at him and came to his arms and she was real. She had changed, but it was still her.

She had postponed her departure when she learned that his group's mission had ended prematurely and her father was not yet back for another trip, so he couldn't force her to leave. She peppered his neck with kisses and started expertly undressing him. She was too good at it now, too assured. Bane knew what it meant and it made him boil. He withdrew from her arms and stepped away, not sure he would be able to control his ire.

She searched his face, and she inferred the reason of his discomfort. She went to reach for a parcel she had brought with her and she unwrapped it in front of him. "I made a promise," she repeated when she opened the box to reveal the blackened tip she had bitten off of the man's appendage. "He died right after," she declared.

Bane took the box and, after the initial repugnance he felt, he relished the notion of the pain the man had suffered. "He took you?" he asked, almost out of breath.

"He took my mouth and my mouth took revenge," she answered, smiling slyly. She was guarded, not knowing if this would please him. "The man who took me," she added matter-of-factly following his silence, "I slit his throat before he ended."

That was the reason she was back, because Ra's wasn't please. She wasn't scared; she had been elated that she had been called back to the League, where she reunite with Bane. She would argue to her father that being an assassin was the main aim of her training, when he would question her about the men she killed.

Bane closed the box. She wondered if she had insulted him. She couldn't guess what to say or do to comfort him.

"You'll give yourself to me again?" he asked in a hushed growl.

"Always," she said starting to undress. He looked at her with sadness. He had compelled her to slave herself to him out of pity and guilt and had taken advantage of what her body offered for his own selfish wants, much like her father had when he decided to prostitute his kin for his ideals. He disgusted himself.

"Your body…" he started saying, wanting to tell her she didn't owe him her flesh, but not able to say it.

"My soul and my heart," she completed with an emotion he hadn't seen in her in years: sheer vulnerability.

She wanted him to tell her the same. She had wanted him to desire her, secure in the knowledge of his protective love for her, but she now admitted she wanted more, she wanted his whole being, his devotion and she was scared his friendship for her prevented him from feeling it. They never talked much when they were alone, they never needed to, but her fear didn't allow her to read him well at the moment.

"I promised I'd never leave you again… I'm sorry I left you," she said in a quivering voice.

He closed his eyes and confided: "You never leave me. You are always with me."

Her eyes dampened and she approached him. "Have me… all of me," she pleaded.

He took her by the waist and pressed his forehead on hers. "Take me… all of me," he simply said and that was all she needed to hear.


End file.
